The four venitian blinds in my study have not been cleaned for six years. There are fifty slats per blind. The plastic slats are close together. It’s time

Using a damp cloth, I begin to swipe. The topmost slats are the dirtiest. It takes an hour to clean just one blind. I need a break and decide this process will take four days. Just being in my study doing this means something, so here goes.

My shades have collected dust that comes from everywhere including the far corners of Earth. Dust can stay aloft so long as to circle the planet. Dust can enter the house. It is so light that only sunlight can reveal it’s presence in the air.I think it’s safe to assume that the dust in my study has settled there after long journeys. I think it is also safe to say that I have particles from every continent and from fabric from every culture all across the four corners our our “spaceship”

Thus, the world has visited and deposited itself on the window slats in my study. My world view is beginning to make itself present physically.

My world is the whole universe and not only Earth. The stars, unreachable for now, but still, I am connected with them. Star dust really does exist, I know, I cleaned it off my window blinds. One star is in the news recently – Trappist – 1. It is a mere 245 million light years away. It is nice to know that it may have a planet like ours. This discovery bolsters my world view. Custer Institute in Southold had something to do with my world view. It was the darkness, the people, and the telescopes.  I helped lift a young boy up to the eyepiece and heard his reaction to his first sight of Jupiter.  His “Ah” was enough to thrust my world view outward.

Yet my world is also a tiny, metallic Tiger Beetle that likes to fly about in a crazy pattern and land on an open path I share with it. This tiny half-inch long insect packs a wallop, it has a powerful pair of jaws, and ambushes like a tiger. In short, my world is everything. Not only of what connects me to my five senses on Earth in my immediate vicinity, but way, way out beyond the most distant star recently discovered by an astronomer.

My world view is also shaped by my Catholic Faith upbringing. The saints, from all over the world, exemplify their journey. Now they are known all over the world because of their sacrifices. I imagine being in a huge church where every saint is present. I see their faces framed by halos. A tremendous number of artists have painted these saints with their own unique halo style. But, all halos indicate sainthood.  Collectively, these saints are holding muted conversations with each other having met for the first time. I look out over this sea of miracles, an ocean of sacrifice and dedication, many martyred, an ocean of examples from one end of the horizon to the other. Over the years, I have found a few that have come to inhabit my daily prayers.

I see Mary near the front, and Theresa, and Joseph, and Frances. I call on them to help family members, friends, and people I’ve never met.

Tucked into the cracks between the window sill and window, I have placed some pictures of my saints. Mary especially embodies my world view.  She has hundreds of geographic names like Mary of the Arctic Snows, Our Lady of Guadalope, Our Lady of Fatima, etc.

Worm castings on the ground in late winter are also part of my world view. These little mounds of soil are part of my immediate view. They communicate to me that there are no toxic chemicals in the soil. “We can live here.” They say silently. “I’ve survived the winter.” At the same time, supernovas are exploding, new stars are forming, aurora, eclipses, meteors, comets, are all events that help shape  my world.

I view my world as much as possible by avoiding the electronic world on my computer screen. I want as much natural light and as much freedom, to be able to turn my head upward and watch clouds and branches influenced by wind. I feel connected to all these things. I am connected to all these things.

I was told that I could find tiny metallic spheres from burning meteors are among the deposits in my gutter. I got a leader, collected material, dried it , and put a small pinch of gutter waste under a low-power microscope. I saw no round metal spheres after several hours of trying. I tried sweeping a magnet through the material and looked at that. I discovered one tiny round metal ball. Where did it come from? What is it? It confirmed my world view.